NCP will support harsher punishment for rape: Pawar

Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that his party would support any bill providing for more stringent punishment to rapists.

Pawar, while addressing a women's rally in Amrawati in Maharashtra, referred to the Delhi gangrape incident, and observed that in our society the victim of the rape carries a stigma, while the culprit goes on with his life without getting punished.

"I personally feel that such offenders must get a very stringent punishment. If the Centre comes out with any such proposal, NCP members of Parliament would support it," Pawar said.

He also said that reservations were necessary for women in various sectors, and his party had always backed them.